DPW short of school buses: Students cram on board or wait for second trips

11:00 AM,
Feb. 15, 2014

Aisle: A student sits on the floor of the aisle of a school bus, front bottom, as she and fellow Jose Rios Middle School board a home-bound school bus at the Piti school on Feb. 13. The student was instructed by the bus driver to move to the back of the bus to find a seat. Masako Watanabe/Pacific Sunday News/mwatanabe@guampdn.com

Written by

Amanda Francel Blas
Pacific Sunday News

While there were 123 school buses running on island on the first day of the school year, only 118 of those buses are running today.

This means the department must service its 179 bus routes with 66 percent of the resources needed.

"A few went down in the last few weeks," Carl Dominguez, director of the Department of Public Works, said. "Most (buses) are fixed pretty quick, but sometimes they sit waiting for parts because they're not available on island and come from off island." ...